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The Anantnag West constituency, one of the largest in Jammu and Kashmir in terms of area and population, is witnessing a multi-cornered contest in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls 2024. The voting is underway in the seat. Following the recent delimitation exercise, the Anantnag West seat was formed by merging parts of the earlier Devsar, Anantnag, Homeshalibugh and Dooru constituencies.
The constituency shares boundaries with Dialgam, Qazigund and Khundur. Among the key contenders from this seat are Abdul Majeed Bhat of the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Abdul Gaffar Sofi. However, the poll battle has intensified with the entry of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates.
While the saffron party has fielded Mohd Rafiq Wani, the DPAP, floated by former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, has nominated Bilal Ahmad Deva. As the Assembly constituency has been formed recently, none of the candidates in the fray have represented it earlier, thereby making the contest unpredictable. Both Abdul Majeed Bhat and Abdul Gaffar Sofi are among the prominent leaders in the region.
They have previously contested against each other from the Hom Shali Bugh Assembly segment. In 2008, the National Conference had fielded Majeed Bhat from the seat, but he lost to Gaffar Sofi by nearly 1,800 votes. However, Majeed Bhat defeated Gaffar Sofi in 2014 by 1,269 votes.
The PDP emerged as the single-largest party during the 2014 Assembly elections in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Mehbooba Mufti-led party bagged 28 out of 87 seats while BJP became the second-biggest party with 25 seats. On the other hand, NC and Congress were restricted to 15 and 12 seats, respectively.
Anantnag West Assembly election: Voting date The 2024 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are taking place in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1, across all the 90 seats in the Union territory. The results will be announced on October 8. In Anantnag West, the polling is held on September 18.
Anantnag West has 1,26,006 voters, including 63,281 males and 62,724 females. Voting will take place across 146 polling stations in the Assembly segment. ALSO READ | Jammu and Kashmir Polls: A look at key candidates in phase 1 Anantnag West Assembly election: List of candidates In total, there are nine candidates in the fray from the Anantnag West Assembly segment in Jammu and Kashmir.
Candidate Names Party Abdul Gaffar Sofi Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Abdul Majeed Bhat National Conference Bilal Ahmad Deva Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) Mohd Rafiq Wani Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mohammad Rafiq Wani National Panthers Party (Bhim) Gull Mohd Bhat Janata Dal (United) Aaqib Mushtaq Ganie Independent Fayaz Ahmad Khanday Independent Gulshan Akhter Independent.
